World Cup GIF: Javier Mascherano’s Perfect Sliding Tackle To Deny Arjen Robben At The Death

In a game of very few memorable moments came a sliding tackle so beautiful, so pristine, so timed-to-poetic-perfection that it almost – almost! – made up for the proceeding 90 minutes of nothing.

With seconds of normal time left to play, the scores dead-locked at zippo and Arjen Robben about to pull the trigger to send Argentina out, Javier Mascherano made up several metres on his man and slammed the door shut…

Oh yes. That’s some good ju-ju.

While we’re on the subject of pristine sliding tackles, it’d perhaps be remiss of us not to give Ron Vlaar a gold star for his excellent challenge to snub Lionel Messi as he attempted to move up through the gears…